Kinsight

Attending births while lactating means taking breaks to pump in between hip squeezes! I’m always grateful when hospitals have dedicated lactation rooms that make it easy for me to support new parents while having my own littles at home.

We had a great Sunday Stroll today in Evanston! So nice to bring together families in our community 💙 Register for our next walk on 4/27 at the link in bio.

We braved the cold for our first Sunday Stroll! ☺️ Join us for the next walk on 4/6!

Spring is right around the corner and so is our Sunday Stroll! This walking group for new and expectant parents is kicking off this Sunday, 3/23. Hope you'll join us at the Evanston lakefront!

1 week ago we became a family of 4 with the arrival of Marielle Rose 💕

Our family is overcome with love - and I’m incredibly grateful to have had such a supportive, compassionate team for my VBAC! 🥰

Midwives:
Doula (and 📸 credit):

So special visiting with this sweet family during their postpartum visit last week! 💙

I love seeing my birth clients during the first 2 weeks postpartum to check in on how everyone is settling in (and how those fur siblings are adjusting to the new addition 😉)! We use this time to discuss any needs around newborn care, feeding and sleeping challenges, the birthing person’s physical recovery, and emotional concerns. Sometimes this includes processing the birth events and/or discussing postpartum mental health resources.

The postpartum time is a period of transformative growth for families and I’m so grateful to share these moments with them!

So in awe of this birth client and her beautiful, honest words below. It was such an honor to be part of her birth 💙

Picture and caption shared with enthusiastic consent.

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A word about labor. A few words. 31 hours. Pain beyond pain beyond pain. No medication. Why? Because I made a promise to myself. As Angeles Mastretta wrote, it’s a pain thankfully forgotten after the cessation of hostilities. I haven’t forgotten yet, actually, but this beautiful creature in front of me has already written over the memory, so that it’s become fainter. A mother’s amnesia. In labor, during the worst of it, my partner’s hands were my salvation, as was my sister’s embrace. As were my doula and midwife and nurse, a collection of women, shepherding a life while protecting a woman. Neza arrived and I was exhausted, so very exhausted, so that I could only hold him at first. Today, he is more than 7 weeks, and I am still exhausted, but there are more women - so many women - to help. And there is Neza’s smile, and the faces he makes while he sleeps, and his skin on mine, so that labor makes more sense than it did. And still the pain lives in me. Thank you, thank you 🌸🌸🌸

This last month has been BUSY! 😅 Now that all my August clients have delivered, and with my family heading on vacation soon, I wanted to share a recap of my month!

All 5 of my clients this month had boys! Technically one snuck in early on 7/29 😉 We’ll see if the boy trend continues this Fall or if it’s time for girls!

I was at so many different birthing locations this past month - MacNeal Hospital, Elmhurst Hospital, Evanston Hospital, Prentice Women’s Hospital, and the Birth Center of Chicago. 3 of my clients had midwives overseeing their care and 2 worked with OBs!

3 clients opted for low-intervention, physiological births without pain medication. I was so glad to support them in meeting their birth goals!

1 client had a medically necessary induction which resulted in a cesarean. This client showed such strength along the way in making empowered, informed choices that prioritized her health and her baby’s safety!

Being a doula has taught me that every single birth is different - and there’s no one right way to birth! It’s incredible to see truly powerful, beautiful births with such a wide range of preferences - most important is that your decisions reflect your own priorities!

It’s a beautiful day to be at learning about body-feeding from CLC and Doula !

So excited to use this knowledge to support my clients on their feeding journeys from first latch to postpartum support!

Happy 1 month to sweet Baby J!

I was so glad to get a note from Mom this week and hear that everyone has settled in well to their new family of 3! I love getting updates and pictures from clients - and hearing about the tremendous growth everyone is experiencing!

This mom showed such incredible resilience during her birth. She navigated an unexpected medically-necessary induction at 37 weeks with such strength and found ways to own her decisions even as pieces of her birth plan changed. She persevered through a marathon of a birth and Dad was there to support her through every step - with supportive comfort measures, position changes, offers of nourishment, and verbal affirmation.

So proud of this whole family and grateful for their health and happiness!